The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-27
FREEZING UNDER 20 B -ANKETs.

Whose Thermometer Marked Six
ty-Two Degrees Below Zero.
From the 50. Louis Post Dispatch.
Yesterday there was in the city quite a
distinguished young mau. His celebrity
consisted in his having recorded the lowest
temperature ever observed within the
bounds of civilization. His name is George
A. Garden, and he was on his way faom
Lamar, Mo-, to Chicago, where he will act
as Assistant Observer in the Signal Office
It was on New Years morning, 1885, that
Mr.. Garden, then the Signal Sc vice OBJ
server at Poplar River. Montana, sent on
the solitary telegraphic wire that connected
him with the world outside, this brief but
startling announcement:
Temperature 81 below zero.
Mr.. Garden was succeeded bv Vernon P.
Chapel now observer in charge at the st.
Louis station. The two We're swapping
"reminiscences OF that frlgid region, to
which the inexorableness of military disci-
pline had at one time banished them, when
a reporter joined them. Mr. Garden IS a
cookbook ng young man, above the average
height, sturdily built, and with dark COM
plexion and the acceat of born Southerner
you haven't forgotten the coolest day
of your life, Mr.. Cardens" asked the re-
porter.
d
suggestive twist to his coat collar. II
never shall, either" he went on. ~ came
nearer freezing to death than | ever want
to again" -
Weren't you in the signal station at the
time"
Eyes, l was" he answered. and then both
the signal men laughed sarcastically. 1.-The
station, you must understand. was simply
cabin, ten by twelve, made of cotton wood
logs, pinned together the chinks being
plastered wi h mud. The roof also was
mud, aud the floor was formed of cotton
wood boards, which. having been put down
green, had shrunk till they left cracks which
would easily swallow up the legs of the only
chair in the station the only thing that
made the loom habitablc was the fact that
the hut had been ba, ked up with dirt that
reached UP half way to the roof
''In that little room went to bed on the
night of Dec 81, 1884. The bed was within
arms length of big drum-stove, large
enough to receive four foot cord wood, as
we dare not get out in the cold to keep up
the fee. | had begun observations at the
place year before, Dec. ~, 1885, aud was
not. much surprised on retiring the last
night of 1884 TO find the spirit in the
official thermometer down in the neighbor-
hood of So below. l had often recorded
so below before, but / thought that
might before retiring that a pretty
low temperature would be reached,
as the air was painfully still and
the stars looked brighter and rearer than
ever. / tossed about all night trying to
keep warm. The big stove kept nearly
Ted-hot, but still the little room would not
get warm. It seemed as cold as the outer
air. Upon me | had piled covering equiva-
lent to twenty thicknesses of blankets.
Army blankets, buffalo robes, buffalo coats,
cloth coats-everything in the shape of pro-
hoa IITOO
still / shivered under it all. No one can
form an idea of the cold that night. | had
to wear the heaviest mittens and my seal
skin cap was pulled down over my ears.
ONCE REACHED MY BARE HAND
out of bed to throw another stick of wood
on the fire, and before | could get the wood
IN my hand it was SO benumbed that had to
drop the stick Mind you, all this time the
fire was roaring and cracking
s'Well, at last the night wore away and
about O'clock guess it was, | got up. |
didn't have to dress, though, but just slipped
ON my big buffalo shoes and made for the
minimum thermometer. There the alcohol
spirit was on the one-tenth mark below the
81 mark. When I saw that my heart
jumped fast enough to warm me up little,
as | knew that no other Thermometer but
mine had ever gone so low except i'll Arctic
exploration. That remarkable degree of
cold was reached just about sunrise. never
saw the air so clear as it was that morning.
The atmosphere itself seemed frozen, and
my eye could see further down the
WHITE sNcw-GLIsTENING PRAIRIEs-
than it ever had before There was not
sound to break the stiffness, and felt like
the Arctic explorer who stands in the 81
lence of the eternal SHOWS. The only thing
that bound me to civilization was the smoke
that came up from the distant army post;
United States troops are sta Toned there TO
watch the Indians. That day the tempera
ture rose to about 30 below, and four days
later it rained In those four days the
range was 1907, the greatest range evec re-
corded"
''Was any lower temperature ever re-
cordedr'
''Yes, but only in the Arctic regions by
Greedy, aud his lowest reading was only
nine-tenths of degree lower than mine
Mt. w arlington, which is considered the
coolest place in the United States, has re-
corded as low as 1879 IL is hard to con-
ceive of the cold getting much intenser
than felt it that morning"
''Woll, / should say So" broke in OBJ
server Gray. who, being fresh from his en-
trance examination, was able to add:
''Loomis says that the temperature of inter-
planetary space is only 81 below"
ibid many persons freeze to death that
nightm
mo. As the cold had been increasing
steadily for a week everybody was prepared
for it. The soldiers had become so accus-
toned to the cold that the usual guard duty
was donc chat night The Indians, OF
course, suffer most. They seem to be starv-
ing and freezing all the time up there in
cold weather They haven't the least idea
Of how to dress, and they soon find that
their breech-clouts and loose blanket is little
protection against cold that freezes mer-
ciry.n
what is the usual clothing worn there in
yinterr'
'sWell, used to wear an ordinary fanneh
shirt next to the skin, then very heavy
wooden shirt over that, and then vest and
coat of unusual thickness. That is, around
a fire. OF course, when people leave fire
and travel mile or two, they pile as many
overcoats on as they can. IL is quite anus
ing sometimes on a 40 day to see men come
in from some distance down the prairie and
take off the layers OF overcoats. Over
everything is worn the buffalo coat, without
which there would be no standing the
I IL. 81 hat fhat 10 will dO